Cruelty as Camp?: 'Ticked Off Trannies with Knives'
Friday, Nov 12, 2010
by Bill Gibron
Ticked Off Trannies with Knives should have been better. Instead, it constantly battles itself until it implodes.
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/133381-cruelty-as-camp-ticked-off-trannies-with-knives/ (http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/133381-cruelty-as-camp-ticked-off-trannies-with-knives/)
Somewhere around the late '90s, drag kitsch went from agreeable taboo to television mainstay. With noted female "illusionist" RuPaul ruling Logo with his various impersonator enterprises and the "tran" prefix moving from the once scandalous "vestite" to dating show obvious "sexual" in pop culture commonality, the time seems ripe for a queer-ccentric horror romp where gay humor and genre contrivances go head-to-head. The result? Something called Ticked off Trannies with Knives. While the title is relatively self-explanatory, the film itself is somewhat schizophrenic. On the one hand, it has enough glam girlfriend diva dishing to support such hilarious homo-witticism. On the other hand, the I Spit on Your Grave-like revenge-angle is very nasty indeed, turning everything campy into something quite cruel.